Pizzeria Pandemonium
by Hablakistan
Summary: Lucy is whining about the heat. Guess what she needs? A distraction. Luckily, where Natsu falls short, Gajeel can provide...But maybe Lucy prefer's Natsu's distractions- even if they do raise the temperature a little. Official sequel to 'First Meeting.' Rated T for Language. Humor and eventual romance.


**I've never had people actually review my stuff before! With my first story/one shot, I just wanted reviews because that's what everyone wants. But now every review is a smile on my face and I really love having people say things about my stories. If only the reviews were more critical... Please? But really, getting reviews makes me want to hurry up and write something! Please don't stop reviewing! I'm so greedy now ^^ Enjoy!**

**This is not as serious as I originally planned it to be. It's fucked up nonsense and I don't even know if the focus is NaLu anymore. I think it's Gajeel. And why do all these involve Gajeel, anyway?**

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing that's copyrighted, including the lyrics posted.**_

* * *

Lucy was quite literally on the verge of tears at this point. She propped up her legs, leaned back her head, and rested her elbows on the back of the booth in effort to air herself out. Oh god, she was dying, she was sure of it.

"It's so hot!" Lucy whined for the fiftieth time, to the great annoyance of her pink-haired confidant.

"So you've told me." Natsu replied, not the least bit sympathetic towards the blonde's complaints.

They were seated in Fairy Tail, a local pizzeria-slash-pub that was infamous for not only the amount of violence it tolerated, but also for the intense betting it provided- all under wraps, of course.

The head bartender, Mirajane, was a fairly young woman who was a popular model turned pin-up girl during her late high school years. Though she wasn't known to be actively engaging in the modeling business as of late, she was still something of a one hit wonder, and as such, the source of much of the pizzeria's popularity. Even more intriguing, she eagerly ran the taboo betting that the pizzeria was known for.

And that was only the beginning. The pizzeria had, all in all, quite a history. Not that its history was any help to Lucy's current predicament. No, in fact, the only thing related to this pizzeria (though why it was called a pizzeria was far beyond her, it was more like a bar than anything else) that might have helped Lucy in any way would be whether or not it had an air conditioning unit. And seeing as it didn't, she didn't know why she was sitting here.

She almost felt like pulling the Heartfilia card and saying that she was royalty and she deserved to be treated better than this. Well, she wouldn't- her pride wouldn't allow her to, not to mention Natsu wasn't exactly aware of her lineage- but a girl could dream, right?

Distraction, distraction...Lucy drummed her nails on the table and looked around. Natsu offered a pretty decent distraction in himself, but looking at him would make her stomach warm and the very last thing she needed was to have the temperature raised even a degree. There was Laxus, the owner's son, polishing glasses and sliding them into racks above his head with barely a glance. Cana, sitting on the bar and flirting with a newly hired employee for free glasses of top shelf liquor- poor guy. He wouldn't last more than a few more hours and when Laxus caught him it wouldn't be pretty. Not to mention the chronic fights taking place amongst the turned-over tables and mercilessly broken dishware.

Nevertheless, this was routine. The pizzeria was crowded with the usual regulars who were up to their usual antics, and Lucy was not in the mood. She heaved a sigh, getting up and turning to Natsu. "If you're just going to sit here in this heat, I'm going home. Where there's _air-conditioning_." She made sure to say air-conditioning a bit louder so maybe Makarov would catch on, and be inspired to, _maybe_, go buy a freaking air conditioning unit. She threw him a glare just to make sure he got the message.

On the other side of the room, Makarov gulped audibly.

Natsu just let out a low groan, getting up to follow Lucy out the door, when all the lights flashed off. He cringed when he heard a familiar high-pitched shriek. Luckily, Lucy recognized the lack of danger and stopped screaming before she broke someone's eardrums. Instead she asked, "Was that a guitar string?"

Natsu raised a brow. "Was what a guitar string?" He inquired, just before a spotlight over the center stage flipped on. Focused in the bright light was... Well, let's just say that half of the patrons proceeded to spit out their alcohol.

Laxus, who had dropped a glass in the commotion, nursed an on-coming headache. "You've got to be fucking kidding me."

Gray walked through the doors, ignorant to everything. "NATSU, YOU BASTARD!" He stormed toward Natsu, completely livid. "YOU GAVE ME THE WRONG A-". Gray stopped beside Natsu and did a perfect impression of said boy's gaping face.

It wasn't until Levy walked in that something was said about the matter. She calmly opened the door and stepped inside, but stopped humming as soon as she noticed the lack of lights. Or more accurately, when her eyes pinpointed the person focused in the only beam of light in the room. "_You_?"

"Shooby doo bop~ Doo, doo, doo, shalala~"

* * *

Gajeel was new in town. He was avoided, constantly. His status as a top affiliate of the notorious Phantom Records wasn't exactly hush-hush anymore.

Phantom Records was known for the rappers it had under contract. They were often huge guys who had bewildering criminal records, and people bought their music more out of fear than anything else. It's not that their music wasn't tasteful, or that it was awful, it's just that all their songs featured some anonymous solo singer that made the public's ears bleed. And this guy, whoever he was, was probably the cause of all the pain and crying babies in the world. In fact, that was almost positive.

So word got out that Phantom Records was a cover-up for a prodigious drug cartel. Law enforcement officers broke in, and lo-and-behold, all the rumors were true. But the business was more extensive than anyone could have ever expected. And right up there with Jose Porla, the founder, were five influential, top members that got off scotch-free. Those members were known all by code names- The Great Sky, The Great Earth, The Great Fire, and the infamous Ame on'na. And of course, there was also the most feared of them all, the Iron Dragon.

After the business was busted, Phantom Records/Drug Cartel was disbanded and completely stripped bare. The members went their separate ways, and the world moved on without a second thought.

But here, collected in the bustling town of Magnolia, were two of Phantom's higher-ups. The Iron Dragon and the Ame on'na, exposed as one Gajeel Redfox and one Juvia Lockser. And ever since the whole exposing ordeal, though the world had, again, more or less forgotten, there was one question still lingering on many people's minds. That awful soloist- who _was_ he?

Today, in the Pizzeria-slash-pub known as Fairy Tail, a good number of people made the connection. It was not a connection they wanted to make. But it was suddenly obvious. The nonsensical singing brute that haunted people worldwide was none other than the feared Iron Dragon, Black Steel Gajeel, Gajeel Redfox.

* * *

"Colorful, colorful...

Shooby doo bop!

Tremble with love, steel gray metallic!"

Natsu, Lucy, Gray, and the short blunette at the door had always been more on the realistic side. Well, maybe not Natsu. But he had his heart in the right place, and so, along with his rival and two new companions, his skin paled considerably and his eardrums shattered, never to be the same again. But as with every family- which Fairy Tail and its regulars most definitely was- there are always those special few who pushed the boundaries of being human, and being sane. Like Cana, her faithful drinking buddies Wakaba and Macao, and Juvia, who was Gajeel's faithful Phantom friend even now. And not just those four, but several others joined in and sang along, throwing their drinks and their bar stools at the stage in drunken celebration, and in tribute to Gajeel's blatant lack of singing talent.

Laxus simply shifted his headphones so they fit more snugly over his ears and turned up the volume. Idiotic brats, those kids were.

"WHAT'S WITH THIS CRAPPY SINGING!?" Natsu clutched his ears and twisted his face in exaggerated pain.

"I TOLD YOU WE SHOULD LEAVE!" Lucy retaliated, yelling in effort to be heard above the chaos.

But Natsu didn't have time to respond, because Gajeel stomped over and hit him over the head with his purple electric guitar. "WHO'S SINGING IS CRAPPY?"

Natsu, resilient and stubborn as always, got right back up on his feet. "THAT HURT, YOU BASTARD!" He gave Gajeel a strong uppercut to the jaw, snapping the Iron Dragon's head back. Gajeel returned the punch with ease, as if nothing had touched him in the first place.

Lucy watched in exasperation as the two exchanged hits, threw furniture, spilled drinks, and bumped into other people who then got dragged into the fight. "There is no way that these people are human. It's impossible." She went to sit down out of the line of fire, sighing as the temperature slowly raised due to the exchange of body heat and raging tempers.

Then, Erza walked in.

Lucy had only met Erza recently, but she already felt like they were best friends. Erza just seemed so reasonable and normal compared to all the other people Natsu knew, and still she was interesting to talk to- not to mention beautiful. And what with Erza's rationality, Lucy thought that maybe Erza would be able to put a stop to this immaturity so the heat would go down and she could relax with a cold glass of lemonade, or maybe get Mira to whip up a good margarita. "Erza, over here!" She called, smiling warmly.

"Greetings, Lucy."

"No need to be so formal," Lucy laughed good-naturedly.

"My apologies," Erza replied, bowing her head a bit.

Well, at least Erza was normal _enough_. "Anyway, Erza, I was wondering if you knew a way to calm Natsu down? Because it's getting a bit stuffy in here, you know?"

Erza whipped around at Natsu's name, almost evilly. She directed her sight towards the fight taking place near the center of the bar, and then turned back again to face Lucy. "Of course." She replied with an easy smirk, and Lucy had to suppress a shudder.

"Er...za?" Lucy asked out loud as Erza ran off to the back kitchen. She appeared again moments later, carrying a large iron skillet in each hand.

"I'll go take care of them now, Lucy." Erza announced confidently.

Lucy couldn't even speak. Where was the kind, awkward, red haired woman she had come to know in the past few weeks? Who was this terrifying demon before her? Lucy watched, half in awe, half in terror, as Erza marched over to Gajeel and Natsu and raised the skillets over the heads of the oblivious idiots. This could not be happening. Erza, though awkward, was confident. But these tough, stubborn, inhumanely strong boys would take her down in an instant, by accident, without even realizing it.

Lucy covered her eyes with her hands and cautiously peeked through her fingers. She watched Natsu's fist narrowly miss Gajeel, and watched in slow-motion horror as it made contact with Erza's gut.

_A_nd _bounced off_. Holy-

"SHIT!" Natsu howled. "YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT, YOU B-ast...Er...za?" Natsu stumbled over his words and then tried to offer the scarlet haired woman some form of a compliment. He looked as pitiful as a child who was caught stealing cookies from his mother's kitchen. Gajeel looked much the same, somehow. The piercings on his face lost their effect and his face contorted into a look of fear. He looked like he was about to beg, but Erza didn't give him the chance. And though Lucy was crushed by the looks on the two men's faces, Erza didn't seem to be at all fazed. She slammed the iron pans down on both of their heads with so much force that in her mind's eye, Lucy pictured Tom Cat getting slammed down to the ground and popping back up in the shape of a frying pan. To be honest, she was shocked it didn't happen.

But back to like three seconds prior. Natsu's fist? _Bounced off?_ Was that normal? Did Erza have abs of steel? Lucy was in states of shock on many, many different levels. Partially paralyzed, she walked over to the scene and pulled up the bottom hem of Erza's shirt. Whatever she was envisioning, this was not what she expected.

"_Armor_?" Lucy asked incredulously.

Erza began to scold Lucy's forwardness, but Lucy ignored her. Instead, she wandered around the room looking up to the heavens with her eyes glazed over. Her mind wasn't working as well as it had this morning when she got out of bed, that was for sure. Was this who Natsu associated with? Where did he find these people? What the hell had happened to her supposedly good judgement of character?

Lucy gave up for the day, officially. She exited the Pizzeria, took a long, drawn out walk home, opened the door, closed it behind her, walked across her room, and threw herself face first onto her bed. Her last thought before drifting off into sweet, sleep filled oblivion was the one thought she'd been waiting all day to have: 'Finally, _air conditioning_.'

* * *

Lucy woke up in the middle of the night, unable to sleep any longer.

She was confused to find that though she was still in her t-shirt and undergarments, her skirt and wedges were no longer on her person. Her hair was loose, and lacking the pins and bands she was sure she had put in. She was covered in a thin blanket so as not to overheat, but by now the room had become the temperature of a winter day. Yet Lucy wasn't cold. She groaned, wiping a small spot of dried saliva from the corner of her mouth, and running a hand through her hair. Then she tried to sit up. She was slowed by sleep, and only halfway into a sitting position when a large, warm hand stopped her. "Lucy...go back to sleep..." The voice groaned.

But Lucy wasn't one to do what other people told her to, even if she was a bit of a good girl. So she screamed. Loud.

Natsu sighed loudly. "Luce...shuddup..." He groaned again but this time he wasn't quite as asleep as he had been moments ago.

"_NATSU?_" Lucy cried out. Then she stopped. She thought for a second. Her face warmed up and turned a pink that surely matched Natsu's hair. Her skirt... "_NATSU YOU PERVERT!_" And with strength she wasn't aware she possessed, Lucy kicked Natsu out of her bed and onto the cold, hard floor.

"Big meanie." He huffed, pulling himself across the room by the carpet to lay on the couch.

* * *

"Natsu?"

"Yes, super mean Lucy?"

"Stop acting like a child."

"Is that what you woke me up for, _again_?"

"No."

"Then what?"

"How'd you get in here?"

"The window."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Idiot."

* * *

"Natsu?"

"What now?"

"Did I wake you again?"

"Yeah, you did."

"Sorry."

"What do you want _this _time?"

"Nothing."

"Luce..."

"NOTHING. GOOD NIGHT."

* * *

"Natsu?"

"Hm?"

"You can come sleep in my bed."

"..."

"If you want."

"..."

"NEVERMIND, THEN."

"Lucy?"

"WHAT?"

"Move over."

* * *

That next morning, Lucy woke up with one of Natsu's arms thrown over her waist, and another one tangled in her hair.

That same morning, Natsu woke up with Lucy's head under his chin and her knee pushing gently into his stomach.

"Natsu?"

"Yes, Lucy?"

"You're warm."


End file.
